Carlos Arroyo
seconds before defeating the Dream Team on August 15 at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.]] Carlos Alberto Arroyo (born July 30, 1979 in Fajardo, Puerto Rico) is an NBA basketball player who plays point guard for the Orlando Magic. In less than five seasons, Arroyo has become arguably the most successful Puerto Rican basketball player in NBA history. Carlos Arroyo graduated from Colegio Santiago Apostol in Fajardo, Puerto Rico. Arroyo played in the Puerto Rican Basketball League for the Cangrejeros de Santurce, where he was a teammate of legendary Puerto Rican player Jose Ortiz. He and Ortiz helped the Cangrejeros to four consecutive titles in the late 1990s, and to five titles in six years. On August 7, 2005, Arroyo became a father for the first time: he and his wife, Xiomara Escobar, had a baby girl, Gabriella Lisette Arroyo. College and first season in the NBA A four-year letterman at Florida International University from 1998-2001, Arroyo was the school's second player ever to top 1,600 points, averaging 16.0 points and 4.6 assists over his 100 collegiate games. After graduating from FIU, Arroyo was signed by the NBA's Toronto Raptors for the 2001-2002 NBA season, but was released on January 2002. He then played briefly in Spain before being signed by the Denver Nuggets on March of the same year. He saw limited action with those two teams, playing seventeen games with the Raptors and twenty with the Nuggets before his initial NBA season was over. He only played an average of 9.7 minutes per game during those thirty seven games where he saw action. Arroyo with the Utah Jazz With the impending retirement of John Stockton, the Jazz needed a reliable, replacement point guard on their team. They envisioned Arroyo as being the player who could substitute Stockton, and they traded for him before the start of the 2002-2003 NBA season. Arroyo was then relegated once again to watching games from the bench most of the season, but head coach Jerry Sloan and his team of assistants instructed Arroyo to observe Stockton and back-up guard Mark Jackson, who was also nearing retirement. Arroyo was given the starting job at his position after Stockton retired and Jackson joined the Houston Rockets before the start of the 2003-2004 season. He surprised many Jazz fans, qualifying among the top twenty players in the NBA for his first season there in various categories: By November 2003, he was ranked eleventh in assists per game, and in assists per 48 minutes played. He also ranked sixteenth in two other categories. On November 14, he broke the record for the most points scored by a Puerto Rican in an NBA game, scoring 30 points against the Minnesota Timberwolves. At Utah, his per game numbers were widely expected to arise as his career progressed, because he had been given much more playing time each game as a result of Stockton and Jackson's retirements. Also, Arroyo played on the 2004 Olympic Games, where he led Puerto Rico to a victory over the Dream Team of the United States. Arroyo with the Detroit Pistons However, during the 2004-05 NBA season with the Jazz, Arroyo had several disputes with Sloan. Arroyo lost his starting position and was eventually relegated to the bench. In January of 2005, Arroyo was traded to the Detroit Pistons for veteran center Elden Campbell (who would quickly be waived and later be reclaimed by the Pistons). With the Pistons, Arroyo came within one game of becoming the second Puerto Rican to win an NBA championship. What was dubbed by some Hispanic newspapers as The Hispanic NBA Finals (because Arroyo played for the Pistons and Argentine Manu Gin�bili, starred for the San Antonio Spurs), was won by the Spurs, however, in seven games, with a final game score of 81-74. However, Arroyo's minutes of playing was reduced significantly due to Larry Brown's tight defensive style. Initially, with Flip Saunders style of coaching, Arroyo received more minutes of playing, and showed to be a valuable contributor from the bench. He led the team in assists several times despite playing fewer minutes than other players. However, again, his minutes declined as the season progressed. On January 11, 2006, Arroyo was suspended for one game 1 after he allegedly ran into an official during the Pistons 96-86 victory over the New Orleans Hornets on January 10. Arroyo with the Orlando Magic On February 15, 2006, Arroyo was dealt (along with Darko Milicic) from Detroit to the Orlando Magic, in exchange for Kelvin Cato and a future 1st-round draft choice. The addition of Arroyo and Milicic, plus the return of point guard Jameer Nelson from the injured list, sparked a resurgence of the Magic in the last quarter of the season finishing with a 12-3 run and almost reaching the playoffs. During this run, the team had an 8-game winning streak during which they beat top teams like the Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs, Miami Heat and the Pistons themselves. With the Magic, Arroyo averaged 22.1 minutes, 10.8 points, 2.9 assists, and 2.2 rebounds per game coming from the bench. All of these averages are significant improvements from the statistics he accumulated with the Detroit Pistons where he averaged only 12 minutes per game. He scored a season-high 21 points against the Phoenix Suns in March 3, 2006. He is currently the bench replacement of Nelson. On April 9, 2006, Arroyo injured his left hamstring and was sidelined for 4 games, returning on April 17 and scoring 17 points in the last game of the season. See also *List of famous Puerto Ricans *Puerto Rico at the 2004 Summer Olympics External links *NBA.com Profile - Carlos Arroyo *Official Website *Arroyo now a Piston *Carlos Arroyo at nbawire.com *NBA Fantasy Basketball Stats - Carlos Arroyo *Carlos Arroyo at hoopsvibe.com ? Player profile, statistics, biography, wallpapers Arroyo, Carlos Arroyo, Carlos Arroyo, Carlos Arroyo, Carlos Arroyo, Carlos Arroyo, Carlos Arroyo, Carlos Arroyo, Carlos Arroyo, Carlos Arroyo, Carlos Arroyo, Carlos Arroyo, Carlos Arroyo, Carlos Arroyo, Carlos Arroyo, Carlos es:Carlos Arroyo